Conservation, not regulation, to help control Lake Erie’s algae problem

Fertilizer conservation may be the answer to reducing phosphorus runoff from farms into Lake Erie, according to Mansfield News Journal.

Northwestern Ohio farmers are experimenting with various methods of reducing fertilizer runoff, including buffer areas made of grass or straw between fields and streams that feed into larger water sources, drainage control and soil samples to determine which crop areas need the most fertilizer. Overall, farmers are attempting to decrease the impact that they have on tributaries that feed into Lake Erie.

From Mansfield News Journal:

“In recent weeks, state Rep. Teresa Fedor, D-Toledo, and Adam Rissien, Ohio Environmental Council director of agricultural and environmental quality, have asked lawmakers to push the state to declare the Maumee River Watershed in Ohio a distressed watershed. That would result in the state regulating how much fertilizer farmers could put on their land.”

Via: Mansfield News Journal > Farmers: We can help reduce algae without regulation